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Alaric Biography

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ALARIC (Goth., from al, all + reiks, ruler). The great chieftain of the Visigoths. He makes his first appearance in history in the struggle of the Goths against Theodosius (q.v.). In 394 A.D. he was leader of the Gothic auxiliaries of Theodosius in his war with the usurper Eugenius; but after the death of Theodosius he took advantage of the dissensions and weakness that prevailed in the Eastern Empire to invade (395) Thrace, Macedon, Thessaly, and Illyricum, devastating the country and threatening Constantinople itself. Rufinus, the Minister of Arcadius, appears to have sacrificed Greece in order to rescue the capital, and Athens was obliged to secure its own safety by ransom. Alaric proceeded to plunder and devastate Macedonia and Thessaly, but was interrupted by the landing of Stilicho (q.v.) in Elis with the troops of the West. Stilicho endeavored to hem in the Goths on the Peneus, but Alaric broke through his lines and escaped with his booty and prisoners to Illyricum, of which he was appointed governor by the Emperor, Arcadius (q.v.), who, frightened by his successes, hoped by conferring this dignity on him to make him a peaceful subject instead of a lawless enemy (396). In 401 he invaded Upper Italy; for the first time since the migration of the Teutones (q.v.) and the Cimbri barbarians now invaded Italy. Honorius, the Emperor of the West, fled from Rome to the more strongly fortified Ravenna. In 402 or 403 Alaric encountered Stilicho at Pollentia on the Tanarus; and soon after, the result of the battle of Verona forced him to retire into Illyricum. Through the mediation of Stilicho, Alaric concluded a treaty with Honorius (q.v.), according to which he was to advance into Epirus and thence attack Areadius in conjunction with the troops of Stilicho. The projected expedition did not take place, yet Alaric demanded indemnification for having undertaken it, and Honorius, by the advice of Stilicho, promised him 4000 pounds of gold. When, after the death of Stilicho, Honorius failed to fulfill his promise, Alaric advanced with an army and invested Rome which he refused to leave until he had obtained the promise of 5000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver. But these negotiations, too, failed to produce any satisfactory result, and Alaric again besieged Rome (409 A.D.). Famine soon rendered it necessary that some arrangement should be made, and in order to do it the Senate proclaimed Priscus Attalus, the prefect of the city, emperor instead of Honorius. But Attalus displayed so little discretion that Alaric obliged him publicly to abdicate and renewed negotiations with Honorius. These also proved fruitless, and Alaric was so irritated at a perfidious attempt to fall upon him by surprise at Ravenna that he advanced on Rome for the third time. His victorious army entered the city Aug. 14, 410, and continued to pillage it for three days, though Alaric strictly forbade his soldiers to dishonor women or to destroy religious buildings. When Alaric quitted Rome, it was only to prosecute the conquest of Sicily and Africa, in order to gain control of their rich grain-lands. The occurrence of a storm, however, which his ill-constructed vessels were not able to resist, obliged him to abandon the project. He died, before the close of the year; at Consentia (Cosenza), in Bruttium. Legend says that in order that his body might not be discovered by the Romans it was deposited in the bed of the river Busentinus, which was temporarily diverted from its course, and that the captives who had been employed in the work were put to death. Rome and all Italy celebrated the death of Alaric with public festivities. Consult: Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (Oxford, 1885); F. A. Gregorovius, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Eng. trans., vol. i (New York, 1892); R. Lanciani, The Destruction of Ancient Rome (Boston, 1899); The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. i (New York, 1911).